1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the windrowing art, and more particularly relates to a windrowing machine for fruit or the like having a rotary brush and depth control unit attached to the outer forward end thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the art to shake fruit, such as citrus fruit, from trees and to then move the fruit into windows for easy access to pickup machines. Such a windrowing machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,140 which issued to Donald P. Block on Oct. 2, 1973 and is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Two substantial problems exist when windrowing orchard crops. The first problem is to reliably maintain the fruit engaging members of the windrower in windrowing position relative to the ground when the ground is not level but includes high and low areas; or when the ground is generally level but contains a substantial number of clods, rocks, clumps of grass or the like. Another problem is to gently move the fruit from a path which includes the centerline of the trees being harvested, inwardly from that path without damage to the fruit or to the trees.
Windrowers which mount a series of driven brushes rididly secured to and supported by convex discs, with the brushes spaced along an axis angled relative to the direction of movement of a towing vehicle are also known. However, the gradual accumulation of articles being windrowed, which articles progressively move from brush to brush, tends to overload the innermost brush rendering the machine undesirable for many harvesting uses.
Patents such as Reynolds U.S. Pat. No. 348,778 disclose a street sweeping apparatus including a series of brushes supported on a vehicle at an angle relative to the direction of movement of the vehicle, while the patent to Teagle U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,040 discloses a foot pad of convex arcuate configuration for preventing the tines of a hay-tedder from digging into the ground. The patent to Keogh U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,678 discloses a small roller or pilot wheel which leads a roadway sweeping broom for controlling the elevation of the broom.